The Boungou gold mine in Burkina Faso achieved commercial production on September 1, Canada-based miner Semafo reported this week.
Commercial production was declared when operations reached the internal commercial production measure of 30 consecutive days of mill throughput at 75% of nominal design capacity of 4 000 t/d.
During the 30-day period, the mill processed more than 90 000 t of ore at an average grade of 2.4 g/t gold and with a recovery rate of 83%.
During the period, the mill mainly processed lower grade ore sourced from the east pit. However, as the process was being optimised, higher grade ore was introduced and a recovery rate of more than 93% was reached at the end of the period.
The Boungou mine began processing ore at the end of May and achieved its first gold pour on June 28. During the precommercial period from June to end of August, Boungou produced 12 000 oz of gold.
In 2018, the Boungou mine is expected to produce between 60 000 oz and 70 000 oz of gold in commercial production.
Currently, the stockpile holds more than 300 000 t of ore.